Ashes to Ashes
by aajjww121
Summary: One warrior falls as another rises, only this time, things don't go as expected. My response to the Vol. 3 finale, and how it should've ended. Possibly an ongoing AU, we'll see.


Pyrrha was burning.

She had fought hard against the villain, used every ounce of her aura, every bit of skill, and for a moment, just a moment, she'd thought she'd had a chance. And now she was burning.

The arrow in her chest was nothing compared to the fire eating her from the ground up, burning away her armor, her flesh, her soul, all of it turning to ash on the wind. She couldn't bring herself to cry as the woman smiled down at her and the last scraps of herself became dust, and she felt herself fading, fading, dust becoming atoms, and then no-

"Pyrrha!"

An anguished scream, and then light, white and blinding, pierced through her, freezing her in place, but only for a moment. She found herself floating in an endless white void, with only two things here with her: the frozen form of her killer, and Ruby Rose, burning white with the power she'd unleashed, seemingly lit from within by some terrible vengeful fire.

Pyrrha stepped forward, and Ruby's head snapped towards her, empty white eyes locking onto the flicker of motion in this equally empty space. Pyrrha paused, looking into those eyes, and shuddered. Whatever it was, that wasn't Ruby looking at her.

Her gaze turned to the woman who had bested her, who had killed her, who had set this terrible tragedy upon all of Beacon. Angrily, she stalked forward, raising her hands to wrap them around her throat, to strangle the life out of the one who'd killed so many… and stopped at a tug on her skirt. Next to her, no more than six years old, stood a little girl with silver eyes, a cute button nose, and scarlet-tinged hair. Pyrrha stared down at Ruby, and Ruby stared back up at her, concern clear on her young features.

"Why do you want to hurt her?" Ruby asked, the first sound in the void.

"Ruby, she _killed_ me! She deserves to die for that!"

"Only villains kill helpless people." Pyrrha was about to say something about becoming a villain to keep everyone safe when Ruby hugged her. "Please don't be a villain, Pyrrha," she said with teary eyes.

"…fine. For you, I won't kill her," Pyrrha said, returning the hug.

"Thank you," Ruby said happily, the little girl pulling away.

"So, where are we?" Pyrrha asked, looking around.

The void seemed to extend endlessly around them. "I think we're inside whatever it is I just did," Ruby said, now looking like her usual self. "Or, that's what it feels like, I'm not really sure."

"Then, can you get us out?" Pyrrha asked hopefully.

"I don't know, but… Pyrrha, you died. Dead means you don't come back, ever," Ruby said sadly.

Pyrrha swallowed. She knew very much what dying felt like. "Then… you go, and leave me here. I can stand to live in the middle of all this nothingness if it means I get to live."

Ruby looked at the floor and shuffled her feet. "…I can't leave. The power's too much for me, I can't make it stop," Ruby admitted. "And the only way for me to leave is to make it stop, which would mean it'd stop for you, too."

Pyrrha sighed. "So I can't cheat death, then. It was worth a try, I suppose. But you still have a life, and you need to live it. Maybe I can help you."

"You want to help me leave, even though it'll kill you?" Ruby asked, surprised.

"Of course," she said, taking Ruby's hands in hers. "Use my aura, what's left of it, and together we'll get you out of here."

Ruby nodded and focused, drawing on Pyrrha's strength as she fought the power holding them, fighting as Pyrrha's knees gave way, and her breath hitched, and her heart stuttered. "It's not enough!" the younger girl protested as she hit a wall she couldn't pass, earning a sad sigh from Pyrrha.

"Then I consign myself to you. Everything of mine is yours," she stated, giving all of herself to Ruby, and with a surge of strength the power was broken, and Pyrrha was burning, fading, ash to dust to nothing….

Ruby awoke in a familiar room, blinking the exhaustion from her eyes and groaning at how sore she was. She was fussed over by her father, talked with her uncle, went and tried speaking to Yang, and eventually found herself back in bed again, staring at the golden circlet on her nightstand. Her uncle Qrow had found it clutched in her hands, so tightly that it was starting to cut her skin. Slowly, Ruby reached out and touched it.

A shock of warmth ran up her arm, aura surging into her from the decorative piece of metal, and Ruby gripped it tightly, close to her chest. She knew this warmth, this familiar power and sense of self, this aura of confidence and compassion. She clutched the circlet tightly, whispering silent thanks to whatever force had given her this gift, and cried, tears rolling down her face to dot the piece of metal.

When Ruby left with Team JNPR, it was with Pyrrha's circlet on her head, and a bit more confidence in her step. Her eyes faced the path ahead, and one ear listened to Nora and Ren idly chat as they walked, but her other was focused on the faint, familiar voice of the circlet, only audible to her. Pyrrha had given everything to Ruby, and Ruby had taken it. And one day, she'd give it back.


End file.
